NFrameFred
Member
I thought long and hard about this before posting, and please understand and let me say up front that I do not intend or wish for this to become a rancorous debate . . . and this not a "bashing" of the youth of today in general, since there are many upstanding kids and they are our only hope if the country is to survive.
But the general subject is the decline of standards of behavior in society - what is and is not acceptable and what we seem to willing to put up with or have forced on us.
I understand that as we age our views tend to "gel" and we become less accepting of lower standards than we grew up with. And it has always been the case that the younger generations push the limits and many times get the blame for the degradation. But instead of just acknowledging and accepting that this is the natural order of things, my question is just how far can we allow it to go ( or can it even be stopped?) before we cease to function as a free society ? Before things become so bad that all pretense of civility, manners, and decorum are discarded ?
The event that brought this into focus and the irony involved, coupled with the hypocrisy of the reactions is very telling.
The death of Ryan Dunn ("*******" "star") discussed here in another thread has brought this to the fore. Roger Ebert (film critic) made a flippant 'tweet' ( another sign of the apocalypse from my old timer's point of view) about how " friends don't let jackasses drive drunk" and has been pilloried for it for it being "unseemly". I grant you it was insensitive, but was it unseemly ? And by whose standards ?
Granted, it was in poor taste and had to be hurtful if you were the victim's wife, child, girlfriend, parent , or whatever. But let's be plain here - this was a man who gained his fame from disgusting vulgar behavior on national TV "pushing the boundaries" with acts on camera that would cause any sensible person to question his morals, upbringing and sanity. And he was paid well to do it. In other words, he got rich by being "unseemly".
Now, my personal feelings about that kind of "entertainment" aside, I find it ironic that Ebert is being pilloried for his "unseemly comment" from the very crowd that revels in, celebrates, and pays for the kind of degraded behavior made Dunn a "celebrity". The shoe is on the proverbial other foot and they are offended.
I guess my point is that a civilized society must have some standards that do not fall below a certain point or it will cease to be "civilized". By allowing this kind of "entertainment" to be brought into our children's living rooms, turning a blind eye toward it and ignoring it as a passing fad, or whatever, we contribute in some small part to the further degradation of a standard of behavior and civility that makes society work for everyone. I find it ironic and somewhat hypocritical that those who helped lower the bar now cry foul when it hits too close to them personally. From my vantage point, I say the monkey in the cage at the zoo that flings feces on the wall has no right to be offended if it splashes on him . . . .
Just personal observations - discuss or discard as you will . . . .
But the general subject is the decline of standards of behavior in society - what is and is not acceptable and what we seem to willing to put up with or have forced on us.
I understand that as we age our views tend to "gel" and we become less accepting of lower standards than we grew up with. And it has always been the case that the younger generations push the limits and many times get the blame for the degradation. But instead of just acknowledging and accepting that this is the natural order of things, my question is just how far can we allow it to go ( or can it even be stopped?) before we cease to function as a free society ? Before things become so bad that all pretense of civility, manners, and decorum are discarded ?
The event that brought this into focus and the irony involved, coupled with the hypocrisy of the reactions is very telling.
The death of Ryan Dunn ("*******" "star") discussed here in another thread has brought this to the fore. Roger Ebert (film critic) made a flippant 'tweet' ( another sign of the apocalypse from my old timer's point of view) about how " friends don't let jackasses drive drunk" and has been pilloried for it for it being "unseemly". I grant you it was insensitive, but was it unseemly ? And by whose standards ?
Granted, it was in poor taste and had to be hurtful if you were the victim's wife, child, girlfriend, parent , or whatever. But let's be plain here - this was a man who gained his fame from disgusting vulgar behavior on national TV "pushing the boundaries" with acts on camera that would cause any sensible person to question his morals, upbringing and sanity. And he was paid well to do it. In other words, he got rich by being "unseemly".
Now, my personal feelings about that kind of "entertainment" aside, I find it ironic that Ebert is being pilloried for his "unseemly comment" from the very crowd that revels in, celebrates, and pays for the kind of degraded behavior made Dunn a "celebrity". The shoe is on the proverbial other foot and they are offended.
I guess my point is that a civilized society must have some standards that do not fall below a certain point or it will cease to be "civilized". By allowing this kind of "entertainment" to be brought into our children's living rooms, turning a blind eye toward it and ignoring it as a passing fad, or whatever, we contribute in some small part to the further degradation of a standard of behavior and civility that makes society work for everyone. I find it ironic and somewhat hypocritical that those who helped lower the bar now cry foul when it hits too close to them personally. From my vantage point, I say the monkey in the cage at the zoo that flings feces on the wall has no right to be offended if it splashes on him . . . .
Just personal observations - discuss or discard as you will . . . .
. I believe America has some serious issues to deal with. The huge shift in age demographics combined with social programs and mounting debt will be the strongest headwinds going forward. We've got a large portion of our society with an entitlement mentality that needs to be broken. IMO, the profane entertainment industry isn't a significant driver of any of these issues. It's not defending this type of entertainment, but rather my opinion that it doesn't merit a great deal of handwringing over. 
